Add column in table

Syntax
To ADD A COLUMN in a table, the Oracle ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name

ADD column_name column_definition;
ALTER TABLE customers
ADD customer_name varchar2(45);
ALTER TABLE customers
ADD city varchar2(40) DEFAULT 'Seattle';

Add multiple columns in table

Syntax
To ADD MULTIPLE COLUMNS to an existing table, the Oracle ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name

ADD (column_1 column_definition,
column_2 column_definition,
...
column_n column_definition);

Example
Let's look at an example that shows how to add multiple columns in an Oracle table using the ALTER
TABLE statement.
For example:

ALTER TABLE customers

ADD (customer_name varchar2(45),
city varchar2(40) DEFAULT 'Seattle');

This Oracle ALTER TABLE example will add two columns, customer_name as a varchar2(45) field
and city as a varchar2(40) field with a default value of 'Seattle' to the customers table.

Modify column in table

Syntax
To MODIFY A COLUMN in an existing table, the Oracle ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name

MODIFY column_name column_type;

Example
Let's look at an example that shows how to modify a column in an Oracle table using the ALTER TABLE
statement.
For example:

ALTER TABLE customers

MODIFY customer_name varchar2(100) NOT NULL;

This Oracle ALTER TABLE example will modify the column called customer_name to be a data type of
varchar2(100) and force the column to not allow null values.
In a more complicated example, you could use the ALTER TABLE statement to add a default value as
well as modify the column definition:

ALTER TABLE customers

MODIFY city varchar2(75) DEFAULT 'Seattle' NOT NULL;

In this example, the ALTER TABLE statement would modify the column called city to be a data type of
varchar2(75), the default value would be set to 'Seattle' and the column would be set to not allow null
values.

Modify Multiple columns in table

Syntax
To MODIFY MULTIPLE COLUMNS in an existing table, the Oracle ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name

MODIFY (column_1 column_type,
column_2 column_type,
...
column_n column_type);

Example
Let's look at an example that shows how to modify multiple columns in an Oracle table using the ALTER
TABLE statement.
For example:
ALTER TABLE customers
MODIFY (customer_name varchar2(100) NOT NULL,
city varchar2(75) DEFAULT 'Seattle' NOT NULL);

This Oracle ALTER TABLE example will modify both the customer_name and city columns.
The customer_name column will be set to a varchar2(100) data type and not allow null values.
The city column will be set to a varchar2(75) data type, its default value will be set to 'Seattle', and the
column will not allow null values.

Drop column in table

Syntax
To DROP A COLUMN in an existing table, the Oracle ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name

DROP COLUMN column_name;

Example
Let's look at an example that shows how to drop a column in an Oracle table using the ALTER TABLE
statement.
For example:

ALTER TABLE customers

DROP COLUMN customer_name;

This Oracle ALTER TABLE example will drop the column called customer_name from the table
called customers.

Rename column in table

(NEW in Oracle 9i Release 2)

Syntax
Starting in Oracle 9i Release 2, you can now rename a column.
To RENAME A COLUMN in an existing table, the Oracle ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name

RENAME COLUMN old_name TO new_name;

Example
Let's look at an example that shows how to rename a column in an Oracle table using the ALTER TABLE
statement.
For example:

ALTER TABLE customers

RENAME COLUMN customer_name TO cname;

This Oracle ALTER TABLE example will rename the column called customer_name to cname.

Rename table

Syntax
To RENAME A TABLE, the Oracle ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name

RENAME TO new_table_name;

Example
Let's look at an example that shows how to rename a table in Oracle using the ALTER TABLE statement.
For example:

ALTER TABLE customers

RENAME TO contacts;